Recently I had a conversation with my neighbor, whose wife, Blanca, paints these amazing, whimsical paintings. He told me that Blanca sometimes sells abstract paintings, even though she paints other paintings that are way better than abstract art, because they sell. For some reason, people who can't connect to art that tells a story, can connect to random "open to various interpretations" art, which doesn't make sense to me but okay. The moral of this story was, you have to make what sells in order to make what you really love to make. Not that abstract paintings suck. It's just that sometimes, what matters to the artist is painting something else (like a fairy riding a stag beetle, what beats that?)
For me, journals are the things that matter. I recently did an art show of Valentine's Day art. I went away from my usual themes and color schemes to make some red, pink, purple, glittery, heart-adorned journals. I sold one.
What I did sell- like, immediately- were these little magnets I made sort of as an afterthought. I love magnets and they are darn cute, but I didn't set out to sell magnets. However, I am thinking now that I will do more magnets, because why not? I like them, and they are both lovely and trinkets, which fits well with my mission statement.
Two questions for artists: have you ever "expanded" your repertoire to do something because it sold? And if not, why not? Was it a moral thing, or an emotional thing, or a practical thing? OR If so, was it fun, and did you surprise yourself with what you made?
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